Recent continued events have shaken the academic community’s foundations, leading us to a decisive crossroads.
The reported severe charges of data falsification leveled against Professor Gino from Harvard University and the resignation of Dr. Tessier-Lavigne as President of Stanford University due to reported flaws in his research highlight the imperative for rigorous ethical guidelines and exhaustive examination procedures in the research community.
We are facing a scenario characterized by Herman Aguinis as an “irresponsible research perfect storm.” Invoking an analogy with the film ‘The Perfect Storm,’ Dr. Agunis predicted and sounded an alarm concerning imminent threats that could devastate the management field. His open-source paper https://lnkd.in/ee6-_b2S stated this.
So, what do we do?
Our Response as Journal Leaders
As Editors in Chief of JSBM and JICSB and integral members of the leadership teams of Jeffrey Alves (Editor of JICSB), Katia Passerini (Interim President of Seton Hall), Eric Liguori, Head of the School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Rowan University, we are monitoring these developments. Actively engaging with the academic community and liaising with our publisher, Taylor & Francis Group, we acknowledge the necessity to confront these issues and preserve the integrity of scholarly work.
I recommended that our team devise plans that focus on the following:
#1: Enhancing Transparency: By encouraging more open data reporting, we aim to make study findings universally accessible, thus reinstating confidence in academic research.
#2: Leveraging Technology: We intend to harness technology to simplify research data access, narrowing the divide between researchers and the broader readership.
#3: Celebrating Trial and Error: In acknowledging that research is a process of discovery and growth, we honor both success and failure, promoting a balanced perspective that values innovative findings and insightful questions leading to unexpected outcomes.
Conclusion
As distinguished scholars gather at esteemed venues such as AOM in Boston and ICSB this week, our cooperative, human-centered approach lays the foundation for a transformative era in academic research.
As my esteemed colleague, Dr. Winslow Sargeant, Immediate Past Chair of ICSB, succinctly articulated, ‘ We need a paradigm shift in how research is done and classified.’ This profound insight captures the essence of our mission and emphasizes the critical necessity for a transformative approach.’
I end it with a quote from Albert Einstein “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its reason for existence.”
May our academic community persist in its quest for knowledge, exploration, and the pursuit of truth and excellence.
by: Ayman ElTarabishy
Editor-in-Chief of JSBM
President & CEO, ICSB
